Budgeting

Planning your budget

We've produced a budget planner which could help you plan your finances. It's important to plan your finances carefully to make sure you can keep on top of your rent payments and other regular bills. The sheet offers a simple template to track your income and expenses weekly or monthly.

You can print the sheet, which you can fill in and add up by hand, or an interactive version, which you can fill in on the computer – the interactive version will automatically calculate your total income and outgoings. Both are available to download at the bottom of this page. Please note that you must use Adobe Acrobat Reader to use the interactive version.

How to fill in the budget planner

Before you start, you’ll need to gather together details of all your income and expenses. Use the handy lists below to help you find the information and documents you’ll need.

Income:

payslips
tax credit notifications
bank statements
benefit notifications
details of any other income you receive

Expenses:

rent statements
council tax statements
utility bills
mobile telephone bills
TV licence financial agreements
day-to-day living expenses
children's expenses

Once you have these documents, you can work through the form writing down how much money comes in (income) and how much goes out (expenditure). You can choose to do it for each week, every four weeks or each month.

If the amount of money left over is above zero, then you have a surplus (more money coming in than money going out). You could use this money to meet either short or long-term savings goals by putting it aside in a savings account.

If the amount of money left over is less than zero then you have a deficit (more money going out than coming in). If you discover that you have a deficit, you should contact your local Citizens Advice for support, or if you receive welfare benefits, you can contact a personal budget coach at your local Department for Work and Pensions.

If you're in debt, there are a number of charities and services which you can contact for support, including: